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Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros, left, stands in front of a burning building while on assignment, in Misrata, Libya, on Monday. At right, photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who directed the documentary 'Restrepo,' is seen during an assignment for Vanity Fair Magazine in Afghanistan. Both died Wednesday covering fighting in Misrata.

Protective equipment has been difficult to bring into Libya from Egypt, The Times report said, as customs officials have thwarted the transport of equipment like helmets and flak jackets.

Doctors said two other photographers were treated for shrapnel wounds: Guy Martin, a Briton affiliated with the Panos photo agency, and Michael Christopher Brown, a New York-based photographer originally from Skagit Valley, Wash.

The bodies of Hetherington, 41, and Hondros, 41, were taken from Misrata to Benghazi on Thursday by the International Organization for Migration aboard the Ionian Spirit, which had been brought in to evacuate civilians from Misrata, according to a statement by Human Rights Watch.

Jeremy Haslam, a coordinator for the Geneva-based organization, said the boat had more than 1,000 evacuees, including 239 Libyan civilians and 586 migrants from Niger and others from Africa and Asia.

The circumstances of the incident were unclear. Statements from Hetherington's family and from Peter N. Boukaert of Human Rights Watch in Geneva, said he was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Leila Fadel, a Washington Post reporter who was at the hospital, reported that Hetherington was rushed from the battle by ambulance along with rebel fighters. He was taken to a triage tent next to the hospital, she said, and appeared pale and was bleeding heavily. He was pronounced dead some 15 minutes after his arrival, according to her account in The Washington Post.

"Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict," Hetherington's family said in a statement. "He will be forever missed."

Hetherington was best known as co-director of the documentary film "Restrepo" with Sebastian Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm." The film tells the story of the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company in the 173rd Airborne Combat Team on its deployment in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. The title refers to the platoon outpost, named after a popular soldier, Juan Restrepo, who was killed early in the fighting.

"He was an amazing talent and special human being," Sundance Institute spokeswoman Brooks Addicott said of Hetherington, whose "Restrepo" won Sundance's top documentary award. "We send our sincere condolences to the Hetherington family, to Sebastian Junger and Daniela Petrova, and to Tim's many admirers all over the world."

Hetherington was born in Liverpool and studied literature and photojournalism at Oxford University. Known for his gutsy ability to capture conflict zones on film, his credits included working as a cameraman on the documentaries "Liberia: An Uncivil War" and "The Devil Came on Horseback." He also produced pieces for ABC News' "Nightline."

The White House in a prepared statement said it was "saddened" to learn of Hetherington's death.

"Journalists across the globe risk their lives each day to keep us informed, demand accountability from world leaders, and give a voice to those who would not otherwise be heard," the White House said. "The Libyan government and all governments across the world must take steps to protect journalists doing this vital work."

Hondros had covered wars in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. His work has been widely published around the world. In 2003, Hondros made a picture of a Liberian government soldier with an RPG launcher that became one of the most iconic documents of that civil war.

In 2006, Hondros was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award by the Overseas Press Club for a series of images from Tal Afar, Iraq, in which U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on an Iraqi family’s car. The next year, in a
video interview with msnbc.com
, Hondros said "I’m glad that those pictures exist, because it documents a circumstance that happens a lot there, and that people need to know about."

Hondros was born in New York City and moved to Fayetteville, N.C., as a child. He studied English literature at North Carolina State University and got a master's degree at Ohio University School of Visual Communication. He worked as a photographer for his hometown paper, the Fayetteville Observer and from there came to New York. He worked for the AP, freelanced and eventually became senior staff photographer at Getty.

Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa, told Reuters this week that the number of attacks on the media in the Middle East and North Africa since the start of the year was "unprecedented."

"This hasn't happened before, not with this intensity and not with this frequency," he said of the attacks.

Dayem said 14 journalists have been killed worldwide so far this year, with 10 of those deaths in the Middle East and North Africa. Hundreds of other attacks on the media in the region included detentions, destruction of equipment and death threats.

While the Committee to Protect Journalists said press freedom has improved in Egypt and Tunisia since protesters ousted the presidents of both countries this year, it described the situation as only graduating from "horrendous to bad."

Video: Acclaimed photographers killed in Libya

Transcript of: Acclaimed photographers killed in Libya

MATT LAUER, co-host:Now to
Libya
where the fighting shows no signs of stopping. On Wednesday, two award-winning photographers were killed as they chronicled the violence in one war-ravaged city.
NBC
's
Stephanie Gosk
is in
Tobruk
with the latest on this.
Stephanie
, good morning to you.

STEPHANIE GOSK reporting:Good morning,
Matt.
Well,
Misrata
is dangerous on multiple levels. There's the danger of being injured in the violence, but once injured, there's the problem of getting medical care. Most of the hospitals have been destroyed. There's little medicine, and the only safe way out of that city is a 20-hour boat ride.
Misrata
has become
Libya
's and possibly the world's most dangerous city. A violent fight for control between rebel fighters and
Gadhafi
loyalists have turned the streets into battlefields. It is exactly the kind of place that photojournalist
Tim Hetherington
and
Chris Hondros
have made a career out of capturing on camera. On Tuesday,
Hetherington
posted this on
Twitter
, "In besieged Libyan city of
Misrata
.
Indiscriminate
shelling by
Gadhafi
's forces. No sign of
NATO
." The next day, he and
Hondros
, along with another group of photographers, went to the city's front line.

Mr. GUILLERMO CERVERA (Photojournalist):We were coming backwards because we were scared of the fight and just an
RPG
went where we were.

GOSK:A rocket propelled grenade hit the group. Shrapnel from the explosion killed both
British-born Hetherington
and
American Hondros
. Two others were injured.
Hetherington
is best known for his work in
Afghanistan
, along with
Sebastian Junger
, he directed the
2010
documentary "
Restrepo
," an up-close look at a combat platoon locked in a daily battle with the
Taliban
. The film won the
Sundance Jury Prize
and was nominated for an
Academy Award
. Its directors appeared on
MSNBC
's "
Morning Joe
."

JOE SCARBOROUGH reporting:How do you keep filming when you're getting shot at by 20
Taliban members
?

Mr. TIM HETHERINGTON:I don't know. As I've said, I've got the off switch on. I just kind of go for it. It's important to go to these places and bring back what we don't often see back there in the
States
.

GOSK:Hondros
did the same, working in war zones from
Kosovo
to
Iraq
. A
North Carolina
native who was engaged to be married, friends and colleagues say the 41-year-old was not afraid to get close to his subjects. His photos capture an intimacy few photographers achieve.
The Committee
to
Protect Journalists
says two other journalists have been killed and several more wounded while covering the uprising in
Libya
. Others have been detained by government forces, including two Americans,
James Foley
and
Clare Morgana Gillis
, a freelance writer for
USA Today
and
The Atlantic
. A Libyan spokesman came out and said that the government is saddened by the deaths of these two journalists and that they're going to look into the incident. They added that government forces aren't deliberately targeting journalists, they're trying to target rebels. And also said that this is war and people are going to be killed on both sides.
Matt
:

Photojournalist Chris Hondros stands in front of a burning building while on assignment on April 18, 2011, in Misrata, Libya. Hondros was killed April 20 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck nearby. The following images were taken by Hondros in conflicts around the world.
(Getty Images)
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Libyan rebel fighters carry out a comrade wounded during an effort to dislodge government loyalist troops who were firing on them from a building on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata on April 20. Later that day, photographer Hondros was mortally wounded in the fighting.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Rebel fighters carefully move up a stairway in a building where they had trapped government loyalist troops during fighting along Tripoli Street in Misrata on April 20.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A rebel fighter closes the eyes of a comrade in the Ajdabiyah morgue after he was killed during clashes with government troops April 10 in Ajdabiyah.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Haitians crowd in for food aid in front of the National Palace on Jan. 25, 2010, a couple of weeks after a devastating earthquake struck Port-au-Prince.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A United Nations peacekeeper from Uruguay carries a pregnant Haitian woman who lost consciousness in a massive crowd during rice distribution for earthquake victims in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 25, 2010.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Former President Saddam Hussein watches from his seat during his trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal inside Baghdad's Green Zone on Feb. 14, 2006.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A woman displays her ink-stained finger outside a polling place after voting in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on Jan. 30, 2005.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Samar Hassan screams after her parents were killed by U.S. soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division on Jan. 18, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq. The troops fired on the Hassan family car when it unwittingly approached them during a dusk patrol in the tense northern Iraqi town. Parents Hussein and Camila Hassan were killed instantly, and a son Rakan, 11, was seriously wounded in the abdomen. Rakan, who lost the use of his legs, was treated later in the U.S.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Two children are held by U.S. soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Stryker Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash., after their parents were killed. U.S. soldiers fired on their family's car after it failed to stop in Tal Afar, Iraq, despite warning shots, the military said, on Jan. 18, 2005.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Rakan Hassan, 12, looks out from the therapy room in Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital on Jan. 11, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. Rakan's parents were shot to death and he was gravely wounded by U.S. soldiers in a shooting on Jan. 18, 2005, in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar. The incident was widely publicized and ultimately led to Rakan's treatment in Boston. Intensive physical therapy regimen allowed him to walk with assistance. But after his return to Iraq, he was killed by a bomb planted at his home in Mosul.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A Liberian militia commander loyal to the government exults after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge July 20, 2003, in Monrovia.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A child soldier loyal to the Liberian government walks away after firing on rebel forces across a key bridge while another taunts them July 30, 2003, in Monrovia.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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A government loyalist shouts out after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces on July 23, 2003, at a key bridge in Monrovia, Liberia.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Afghan schoolgirls seen through the window of a Humvee wave to a passing American convoy on June 26, 2010, in downtown Herat.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Spc. Christian Hoffman of Sanford, Fla., a medic with the 82nd Airborne Division, listens for the heartbeat of a gravely wounded man after a civilian truck hit a buried mine on June 21, 2010, in Khushi Khona, Afghanistan, near the Turkmenistan border. The mine, intended for the U.S Army's 82nd Airborne Division, killed five men returning from a sheep-buying trip and seriously wounded three others who were treated by U.S. forces.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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New York City firefighters view the destroyed facade of the World Trade Center on Sept. 13, 2001, two days after the twin towers were destroyed when hit by two hijacked passenger jets.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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Women grieve at the funeral of more than 40 ethnic Albanians who were massacred in Racak, Kosovo, by Serbian troops in February 1999. The massacre galvanized world sympathy to the plight of ethnic Albanians under Serbian rule in Kosovo and led to a 78-day NATO air campaign that eventually forced the Serbian military out of Kosovo.
(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)
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